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Retro Quest is a classic Gameboy-style RPG with an intentionally generic story with bland characters, as a throwback to games with hilariously bad dialogue, such as Final Fantasy Legend.

Story[]

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. (Skip section)


Retro Quest follows the exploits of a great hero, aptly named 'Hero'. The story begins with Hero and his friend, 'Friend' just leaving a pub. Friend has just borrowed a lot of money from Hero, and they are just about to head off to an unspecified place, when suddenly a Guard cries for help. The Guard explains to Hero and Friend that the Castle has been invaded by Monsters, and there are vines covering the castle.

Hero agrees to help and rescue the Princess, only to be stopped by Friend, who pays back Hero with several items. Hero enters the castle through a secret cave system known by no others. This allows him to sneak into the castle courtyard, where a guardian awaits. Hero defeats the guardian and moves on to a hall with the doors to the throne room closed. Coming across a library with many castle workers taking up shelter, Hero finds out about a room that can open the way to the throne room.

On his way to the room, Hero meets a Librarian who was kicked out of the library due to his apparent connection with the evil forces in the castle. The Librarian attacks Hero but is quickly defeated.

Hero opens the way to the throne room, but first defeats two mercenaries who seem to under the impression they were hired by the Queen; Weston, a brutish Ogre warrior, and Easton, an intelligent Lamia mage. Hero swiftly moves ever closer to the throne room, defeating a group of three mages working for an unknown force named Garuda, and is almost tricked by a shapeshifting dragon, Maliris.

After just barely defeating Maliris, Hero finally enters the throne room, to discover the Queen was behind all the troubles in the castle. After a long confrontation and an incredibly tough battle, Hero finally defeats her.

Of course, it was not over yet. With the death of the Queen, Hero was transported to a mysterious place shrouded in darkness. It was there he learned that the true force manipulating the Queen was a dark being by the name of NecroLich. NecroLich gave Hero a fair chance to fight him, which naturally was a bad idea, as Hero defeated him swiftly.

NecroLich was not going to die quietly though. As he died, he used the last of his power to teleport Hero to the dungeon of the castle, which was now slowly being destroyed. Luckily, Hero ended up in the same cell as Princess, the princess of the castle, who happened to know a secret way out. While fleeing the castle, Hero is confronted by the misguided Warden of the dungeons, who quickly realises who Hero is, and flees.

After escaping, Princess and Hero marry, and over many years, they rebuild the castle, and rule over the unnamed Kingdom.

Characters[]

Main Characters[]

Hero

Hero is the main character of Retro Quest, and the only playable character. He saves the Castle, Princess, and probably the world!

Friend

Friend is Hero's best friend. They get up to wacky shenanigans together, but Friend dislikes putting his life in jeopardy, always leaving Hero to do the dirty work.

Princess

The Princess is the obligatory princess character in Retro Quest. She makes no appearances until the end, and is the main motivation for Hero.

Villains[]

Dark Queen

The Dark Queen appears to be behind all the troubles in the castle. Once the Queen of the city, the Queen was eventually corrupted by NecroLich's influence, causing her to hire the two mercenaries Easton and Weston to defend her castle from outside forces.

Weston

Weston is an Ogre Merecenary hired by the Dark Queen. Weston is a brutish character, not liking to deal with outsiders or anybody smarter than him. This causes him to have a natural rivalry with Easton.

Easton

Easton is a Lamia caster who despite appearances, is actually a male. He was hired by the Dark Queen to defend her castle. Easton is more intelligent than his rival to the west, and prefers to solve his problems with magic rather than brute force.

NecroLich

NecroLich operates behind the scenes, and is the true villain behind all the vines and monsters in the castle. He watches Hero throughout the entire game, only to attempt to kill him after his final battle with the Dark Queen.

Subsequent appearances[]

Hero, Friend, and Princess are likely to make an appearance in Retro Quest 2.[1]

Locations[]

Retro Quest takes place entirely in a Castle in a nameless city in a nameless world, excluding the introduction and ending, which both take place outside the castle.

Places[]

The Main Hall

The Main Hall was once a wonderful place. Beautiful architecture and a large amount of guards made it a wonderful place. Just as the incident began, however, all Guards and Mages-in-training were corrupted in one fell-swoop. The Main Hall leads off to most rooms in the castle.

The Library

The Library is the only safehouse in the entire castle. Three guards, a Red Mage, and a White Mage take shelter here.

The Kitchen

The Kitchen is abandoned by all but several pig-like creatures named Gluttons. The Kitchen includes a frozen food storage room.

The Vault

Little is known about the Vault. Nobody has entered it for years, and nobody even knows how!

The Cellar

The Cellar would be abandoned... If not for two mischievous Dwarves taking advantage of all the chaos to get drunk for free! A small room off the side of the Cellar is now blocked by a gigantic rock. How did that get there?

The Basement

Before the castle came under siege, the Basement was an ordinary storage facility. It is now a frozen hell infested with demonic shadows. What could possibly have caused this?

The Forge

A couragous Dwarf takes up hold here alone while trying to forge away the boredom.

Castle Hallway

A huge hallway that has doors leading off to the Basement and the Cellar.

Courtyard

Since the incident, the Courtyard has been torn asunder by vines, and the previously peace-loving Hoppers have gone rabid! A sealed door stands to the northeast.

The Waterway

The castle Waterway used to be a combination of a sewer system and a way for boats to stealthily enter and leave the castle. An unspecified number of years ago, the sewer system section of the waterway was locked. Why is this? What awaits behind it? How will you open it?

Sewers

A gigantic abandoned sewer system. Ignoring all the rats and lizards, there happens to be a large amount of treasure in the Sewers. Look out for the Mimics!

Town

The town named Corneria unnamed town Hero and Friend live in that happens to be Corneria from Final Fantasy I totally not be Corneria from Final Fantasy 1.

Study Hall

Not being far from the Library, the Study Hall was ideal for aspiring Mages to learn how to practice magic. Since the incident, an insane ex-Librarian and many many evil Imps await you here.

The Throne Room

The final part of the castle, the most guarded place, and the dwelling of the Dark Queen. Good luck!

???

NecroLich is found here... But where is here?!

Sealed Door

Found in the Courtyard. It is unknown what this leads to.

Gameplay[]

Retro Quest plays like a generic RPG maker game in the overworld; top down view, random encounters, NPCs, etc, although it has several other systems that set it apart slightly, but to not make it amazingly unique. The uniqueness comes in the fact that the game is intended to be short, but with secrets and New Game+ content to keep players playing for hours!

Superbosses, sidequests, puzzles, Retro Quest has it all!

Battle System[]

The battle system in Retro Quest uses the usual ATB system, but the characters are laid out in a way reminescent of Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. This does not impact gameplay at all, but may set the game apart from other RPG maker games.

Abilities[]

Hero has two different sets of abilities: Sword Art and Magic.

Sword Art[]

Sword Art is Hero's main set of abilities. Sword Arts often involve different kinds of strikes, such as Body Shot, which will do more damage to enemies with a soft body (For example, a Dragon). All Sword Art abilities are learned through leveling up, with the exception of super secret ones.

Magic[]

Hero can also learn Magic. As he is primarily a Warrior, he does not learn Magic through conventional means, so he must learn them through the study of Magic Books. Magic Books are found all over and they can be found by defeating some monsters, open treasure chests, or discovering a 'secret', so be perceptive!

Attack Skills[]

To prevent bosses being made too easy by having good armour, bosses will have a skill instead of normal Attack, which will offer better damage on a well geared Hero, but will of course still be affected by armour values.

Secrets[]

A big part of the game is finding secrets. There are many secrets to find in the game, some offering Superbosses, some offering brilliant secret weapons, some just being small easter eggs, or some even opening up new parts of the game! When completing the game, you will be told how many secrets you have found, and how many more there are to find!

Mini-store[]

Throughout the entire game, there are no easily accessible NPCs that offer shops. To keep a shop system intact, you have an item at all times called the Mini-store. Using the Mini-store will give a prompt, giving you a choice of a Weapon, Armour, Magic, or Item store. Choosing one of these will open up the usual shop menu users of RPG maker will be used to.

New Game+[]

After beating the game, you are offered a chance to begin from the beginning of the game with the same character. This will allow you to find more secrets, and some places will even be impossible to enter unless on a New Game+!

White Mage[]

Rather than having Inns, there is a single White Mage hiding in the castle library. For 25 gold, the White Mage will fully restore your HP, MP, and remove any status ailments.

Unique Bosses[]

Rather than all bosses just having a set of attacks, all bosses will have certain things to make them more interesting. For example, the Dark Queen will reduce your HP to 1 only once per battle, but after using it, she must recharge for 2 turns. Another example is the battle with the Delta Attack Sorcerers. The enemies in the fight are regular enemies found in the area, but a group of all 3, and all with Haste. There is even a 3-part boss that you chase around!

Unique Encounters[]

As well as unique bosses, each room in the game features a different set of enemies you can encounter, to prevent repetition.

Side Quests[]

Inside the castle, there are a few Side Quests to find, such as a Blacksmith being bothered by pesky Elementals, and a long chain of events involving several elemental Fiends. These Side Quests vary in difficulty, but usually have rewards that are worth the time.

Graphics[]

Retro Quest features only black and white graphics, to keep to a general graphical theme.

Graphical Credit[]

RPG Maker 2003 RTP

Final Fantasy Legend

Final Fantasy Adventure[2]

Various resources from Charas

Music[]

While the game uses music from other games, it is all taken from VGMusic to keep in Midi format, thus keeping file size down.

Musical Credit[]

Final Fantasy I

Final Fantasy III

Final Fantasy V

Final Fantasy IX

Dragon Quest III

Castlevania

Street Fighter II

Reception[]

Retro Quest has only been tested by 5 people as of 27 September 2010, but comments are generally positive.

Title and release information[]

Retro Quest was released on RPGmaker.net on the 17th of October 2010. It can be found at http://rpgmaker.net/games/2588/.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Weston and Easton are named after their respective directions from the central path to the throne room.
  • The town found in New Game+ is clearly a recreation of Corneria from Final Fantasy I, and even has Final Fantasy I Background Music.
  • Hero's line of dialogue "Whatever." in the introduction scene is a throwback to Final Fantasy VIII.
  • NecroLich's appearance is very similar to Necron's appearance in Final Fantasy IX (Having no mention throughout the game, but being the final boss). His battle music is also the same as Necron's.
  • The Dark Queen laughs in the same way as Kefka from Final Fantasy VI.
  • Retro Quest features White Mages, Red Mages, and Black Mages, which are recurring job classes in Final Fantasy.
  • Many spell names are references to Final Fantasy.
  • The Dark Queen's battle music is a Midi version of Vega's theme from Street Fighter II.
    • The credit music is a Midi version of Ken's theme also.
  • The description of the Old Book - "The title 'ABCs for Barbarians' is barely visible." - is a reference to The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.
  • The names of the Elemental Fiends are all references to other games.
    • The Fiend of Lightning - Thundaga - is named after a powerful Lightning-elemental spell in Final Fantasy.
    • The Fiends of Earth, Wind and Water - Behemoth, Garuda, and Kraken respectively - are references to enemies in Final Fantasy.
    • The Fiend of Frost - Coldarra - is a reference to a zone in World of Warcraft, while the enemies assisting him - Frost Atronachs - are references to enemies found in The Elder Scrolls.
    • The Fiend of Fire - Incendius - is a reference to a boss in World of Warcraft


See also[]

External links[]

References[]

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